I currently reside in California. After all the college acceptances came out, the schools I am considering are Carnegie Mellon University and UCSB. Getting accepted into CMU was definitely a surprise; I feel that with my GPA and SAT score, I would have no chance, so it is absolutely amazing that I got accepted into that school. I want to go to CMU, but CMU’s financial aid is not that great, and by the time I graduate, I will be in tremendous debt. (Even with their financial aid, I still have to pay 38k a year). On the other side, if I attend UCSB, I only have to pay 10k a year. I truly want to go to CMU, but I honestly do not know if it will be worth being in so much debt by the time I graduate. I do NOT plan on going to grad school, however. Will it be worth attending CMU or should I attend UCSB and transfer to either UCB, UCLA, or a private school later on???
Depends on your major! What are you looking at studying?
snowychan,
i plan on studying either social decision science or economics/finance. my ultimate career goal is to become either an actuary or a financial analyst!
Very likely not.
If the price premium to attend CMU is over $100K, and you’d need to finance that mostly with loans, then you really cannot afford CMU.
Ah your first assignment as a potential future actuary is to do a cost benefit analysis.The first step is to calculate what the total debt would be with interest and look at the payments under a 10 year plan.
But as a student you can borrow:
Student Federal Direct Loan
Dependent/Independent
freshman 5,500/9,500
sophomore 6,500/10,500
jr 7,500/12,500
sr 7,500/12,500
So where are these larger borrowings going to come from?
I dont think any school is worth digging yourself in a hole!
No school is worth the debt.
If you were going for engineering then maybe, but for finance maybe not. Although it sucks to turn them down, it might be a better option to stuck with your in-state school.
Contact CMU. Say they’re your first-choice school. Indicate your second choice, UCSB, would cost your 10,000, and explain how expenses are calculated (or ask for a financial aid review listing expenses and cost of living… odds are it won’t move them in any way though).
Can your parents pay 35-38k out of pocket? At a stretch, considering your major, if your parents can pay 30K out of pocket each year (ie., 8K of debt per year for you&them) you’d be able to “swing” the rest, I think.
Or would they take on the 33k/year of debt on your behalf? If so, do you honestly want to saddle them with that? Or if they’d cosign, can you imagine yourself in debt - with any problem for you falling back onto them, even if they’re retired, even when they’re 70, 80, 90?120k in debt isn’t sustainable.
Other than that, face the facts: CMU is not affordable.
For your intended major, both have the curriculum. Only 3 undergraduate programs worth looking at: CMU BS in a computational Finance, UCSB in Financial Math and U of Michigan in Finance Math. Go for UCSB if you are gong to struggle with the financing. Otherwise CMU has one of the kind program in fin Eng at a BS level.
Please use old threads only for research.